There has long been a line in boxing that former undisputed cruiserweight king turned unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk does not like it to the body and that it might be one of his only areas of weakness.
The main evidence for this is his fight with Daniel Dubois when defending his world titles last August. Dubois landed a shot in the third round that sent Usyk to the canvas where he stayed for several minutes after the referee agreed it was below the belt line.
Much debate raged about whether it was or wasn’t low, but regardless, Usyk went on to stop Dubois a few rounds later.
Next up for Usyk is the tallest heavyweight of the era in Tyson Fury whom he faces on May 18 for the undisputed crown. Speaking to the ToeToToe podcast, Warren has now referenced Usyk’s alleged weakness and claimed The Gypsy King can take advantage of it.
“He has previously been complaining and moaning when he gets caught to the body. Now he’s in there with a guy who is the master of taking advantage of any weakness.”
Warren then claimed Usyk regularly does this having also hit out at his camp for their reaction to the news the fight was to be delayed due to Fury’s cut.
“He does it a lot Usyk, he ‘crybabies’ to the ref. He’s had previous for it about body shots. As long as the referee’s strong in that I’m really happy and I’m even more confident in Tyson in this fight than I was prior to [Usyk] fighting Daniel Dubois.”
Fortunately, we don’t have long to wait to see how much truth there is to this theory.